June 5, 2020 2:35 am
Today is a day many in Washington County have been waiting for since the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns began in Pennsylvania. Under Governor Tom Wolf’s order, the county has now moved into the green phase of his reopening plan which means that restaurants and bars, hair salons, barbershops, gyms, spas, wellness facilities, casinos, theaters and shopping malls are all allowed to open, but they must limit occupancy to 50%. In addition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines must continue to be followed and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said people will still need to wear masks and still be vigilant to potential spread. If you will be heading out to your favorite bar or restaurant over the weekend, be aware that the bar or restaurant you left in March might not look like the same one you’ll be entering on Friday. In addition to the governor’s guidelines, the state liquor control board has also issued guidelines in the interest of patron’s safety.
June 4, 2020 5:46 pm
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The mural of George Floyd projected above his golden coffin, where mourners knelt and cried, paused and prayed at his memorial service had a simple message: “I can breathe now.” Celebrities, civil rights activists, politicians and family members of Floyd sang “Amazing Grace,” prayed and joined together in a rousing memorial Thursday that was both a celebration of his life and a mourning of a man whose death at the hands of police has sparked protests nationwide and calls for an end to racial injustice. The memorial was the first service to be held in the next six days across three communities.
June 4, 2020 4:13 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A judge has set bail at $750,000 apiece for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd. Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng made their first appearances Thursday in Hennepin County District Court. The Minneapolis Police Department fired them last week and they were arrested Wednesday. Bystander video shows a fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, pressing his knee to Floyd’s neck until he stops moving. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death. If convicted of aiding and abetting murder, Thao, Lane and Kueng face a maximum 40 years in prison.
June 4, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The epic damage to America’s job market from the viral outbreak will come into sharper focus Friday when the government releases the May employment report. Eight million more jobs are estimated to have been lost. Unemployment could top 20%. And potentially fewer than half of all adults may be working. Beneath the dismal figures will be signs that job cuts, severe as they are, are slowing as more businesses gradually or partially reopen. Still, the economy is mired in a recession, and any rebound in hiring will likely be painfully slow. Economists foresee unemployment remaining in double-digits through the November elections and into 2021.
June 4, 2020 4:09 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Tropical Storm Cristobal has made landfall on Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Campeche, dumping heavy rain on the already soaked region. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday the storm had sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was expected to turn north later in the week, cross the Gulf of Mexico and eventually threaten the United States. But until then, forecasters expect Cristobal to meander along Mexico’s Gulf coast causing severe flooding. The hurricane center said it made landfall Wednesday morning near Atasta, just west of the major oil production town of Ciudad del Carmen.
June 4, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief shot down his idea of using active-duty troops to quell protests, but then reversed course and kept the 82nd Airborne Division on standby in the Washington, D.C., region. It was an extraordinary clash between the U.S. military and its commander in chief. Defense Secretary Mark Esper angered Trump early Wednesday when he said he opposed using military troops for law enforcement. After his subsequent visit to the White House, the Pentagon abruptly overturned an earlier decision to send a couple hundred active-duty soldiers home from the D.C. area.
June 4, 2020 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional Democrats, powered by the Congressional Black Caucus, are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms in response the death of George Floyd. Lawmakers are working furiously in the House and Senate to draft what could become the most ambitious effort in years to oversee law enforcement work. Proposals in Congress are expected to include changes to police accountability laws, the creation of a database of police use-of-force incidents, and revamped training requirements. One proposal is to ban choke holds, a change endorsed by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
June 4, 2020 4:06 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – Three Georgia men charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery are due in court. A judge scheduled a hearing Thursday to determine whether authorities have sufficient evidence to send the case to a trial court. Arbery was slain Feb. 23 after a white father and son armed themselves and gave chase when they spotted the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood. 64-year-old Greg McMichael and 34-year-old Travis McMichael were charged last month with felony murder and aggravated assault. They were arrested after cellphone video of the shooting stirred a national outcry. The man who shot that video, 50-year-old William “Roddie” Bryan, is also charged with felony murder.
June 4, 2020 4:05 am
NEW YORK (AP) – New York City police say a confrontation in Brooklyn has left one police officer stabbed in the neck, two officers with gunshot wounds to their hands and another man shot by police. The bloodshed happened late Wednesday, about four hours after an 8 p.m. curfew that was intended to quell unrest over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Police say none of the officers’ wounds was life-threatening. The condition of the man shot by officers was not released. Police didn’t immediately say how the confrontation started. The city has been roiled by protests over police brutality, but no protest was in the area at the time.
June 4, 2020 4:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Philadelphia will be under curfew again for a fifth straight night, as Gov. Tom Wolf marched in Harrisburg with demonstrators protesting police violence against black people and racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd. Wolf, with officials from Harrisburg, marched from the Capitol steps to a community center and museum parking lot about a mile away as demonstrators chanted. Demonstrations on Tuesday night and elsewhere around Pennsylvania were largely peaceful, unlike the previous few nights. In Philadelphia, where Wolf dispatched the National Guard and Pennsylvania State Police to support police officers, city officials ordered a curfew for a fifth straight night, from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday.
